Autodesk, the metastasizing cancer of the 3D world

Unfortunately it is much more than just a catchy title. It’s a reality for many of Autodesk’s current Media & Entertainment customers. And no, this is not a blog post to say “I told you so” to 3ds max or Softimage users but something of a much larger concern that I think is being overlooked because of the current and more specific destructive mayhem that the Autodesk disease is causing.

This is about how I’m seeing a single company, single handedly, through mismanagement, incompetence, and above all, complete and utter ignorance, is doing rampant harm to a wider industry on which at least a part of their own existence depends. Combined with an unhealthy dose of disrespect for their customers this is nothing more than a recipe for disaster. A recipe that, unfortunately, is cooked up and served to its customers to chow down on.

Combine that with some of the worst public relations and communications I’ve seen coming from a corporation in a very long time and what you have is a perfect storm example of how to maximize your profits while maximizing the anger and frustration levels of your customers to the point where you will lose many of them and at the same time have shot yourself in the foot when it comes to attracting new ones. Autodesk, being synonymous with stagnation, will eventually further this stagnation not because of inaction and shoddy handling of customers but because this has been a downward spiral they created for themselves which appears to have finally reached the point of no-return.

I use the word “finally” in a positive sense, though, because the way they have strung customers along for the length of time they have gotten away with is really astounding. If there is anything Autodesk should be recognized for it would be exactly this; its ability to fool so many people for such a long time. That is an accomplishment not many corporations achieve.

If you’re like me and you’ve been “Autodesk Free” for a while you might be asking yourself, so what the heck is going on that you no longer see Autodesk as the absolute joke they’ve made themselves to be and are using strong words that imply that Autodesk is a disease that’s spreads itself out into many facets of many people’s lives and livelihoods. I’ll explain. And I’ll probably explain at length. And for those of you that are paying attention you might pick up on a few hints here and there that may help you look at this from a wider point of view. I know that might be difficult for some, especially now with the repetitive sequences of disappointment that Autodesk has put forth. But first, let me answer a question that I know will be asked.

Why I’m writing this down?

Because someone should. Simple. I managed to rid myself of anything and everything Autodesk related and let me tell you it was the most refreshing thing ever and the best choice I ever made, both as a business decision as well as a personal one. In fact, I also decided to mostly (but not completely) extract myself from the trenches of 3D software development, take a few years off, move 6000 miles, setup a whole new business (and a new and even better office haha), etc. Great, so I’m fine and doing better than ever, so what’s all this about then? Well…

In the first year of my planned time off (vacation? retirement?), before I figured out what I wanted to work on and what sort of business I wanted to build, and where, and how, and all those pesky little details, I had given some serious thoughts of re-entering the 3D development arena with some fresh new ideas that were ambitious but feasible. After looking around in detail and applying all my past and “most current” knowledge and understanding of various of the base 3D applications out there I concluded that the most logical choice and fit would be Softimage.

I will not get into details on all the contenders but trust me, every single application was considered and looked at, in detail. None capable of providing what my ideas needed, some closer than others. Maya? Sorry, I don’t touch archaic old messy stuff like that. I was never the kid that played int he mud and “baked sand-pies”. 3ds max? Ha, not on your life would I even consider touching that. Other non-Autodesk products, which of course received the greatest attention, well… they just weren’t mature enough yet, didn’t go far enough in terms of the API and what I would expect, and may still need some more time to get where they likely will be headed anyway. Except, I wasn’t going to wait for that. Out of all the choices the “lesser evil” was Softimage. I say lesser evil as a tongue-in-cheek comment because even though I’ve considered it the most solid built product out there the API left a lot to be desired and while I could see many different workarounds I wasn’t interested in spending half or most of my time trying to fight around things.

Eventually I decided, “screw it” and a year later decided on something that ends up being even more ambitious and complicated. But a lot more fun as well. 🙂

I’m soglad that I made that choice. I am so glad I made the choice to avoid anything Autodesk related because that’s in part what was the deciding factor for me to not take my plans and dive into Softimage related development. I didn’t trust Autodesk. Had no reason to. Already had seen way too much on the inside of that rotten core… core… corporation. And, I had always considered and voiced my concern that Autodesk really just wanted to get rid of Softimage, as a product in its sales channels. Well, I’m not alone in that, many Softimage customers shared those concerns from the moment Autodesk bought Softimage from Avid in, what, 2008.

I’m glad that NOT TRUSTING Autodesk and having an absolute aversion to the company made me decide otherwise. Had I not done so I’d have jumped into something two years ago only to now discover the business would go by the wayside. In purely projected cost and effort I’d have lost two years of my life, the business, and possibly somewhere between $150K to $300K in money down the drain. And that’s not even accounting for the loss of money for “not working” and doing a fully self-funded new business for a period of 2 years.

I’m glad that Autodesk’s provenuntrustworthiness has come through for me in that way. Except it also made me think about other developers out there who now ARE in that position, or worse. And what about all the great Softimage artists, many of which I’ve become friends with even if there was always some level of rivalry between “your product vs. my product”, but that’s what happens in a small industry where you run around in for, oh, some 25 years now. What about all those people who are going to be economically impacted by the decisions and actions of Autodesk, a company that takes absolutely no real responsibility in a community that they once were part of but are now only known in as the faceless entity that could not compete well enough in the community so instead they decided to buy it… and by that I mean a large chunk of that community… bought it. So they could play with it as if they owned it. Well, in a way they do, and what you’re seeing is the result of that.

So what happened?

I suspect that quite a few of you who are reading this right now are Autodesk customers. Very likely you are Softimage users. Even more likely you are a Softimage user who’s been using the software for their livelihood, you depend on it, your company or employer depends on you depending on it. You are also 3ds max users, I am sure. So perhaps the following is something you can skip reading because you are completely aware of what happened. However, since my site gets a lot of visitors from all over, many who have nothing to do with 3D or media or any of that, I’ll explain things as quick as possible.

Recently Autodesk decided to EOL (end of life) Softimage. A 3D application with a very rich history and a pillar in the 3D community. Many users, experts in their respective fields, have been happy using it (though a lot less happy and increasingly so since Autodesk bought the company in 2008) and some for as long as it has been around since 1988. It’s the cool software that brought you all the amazing CGI in movies like Jurassic Park and countless more, too many to mention really. The software we used to toy around with at the time when we needed to shell out $40.000 to $75.000 for the SGI workstations to use it on. Great stuff, cool stuff. Feel free to use the comments below to add whatever great stories and stuff you wish to share about Softimage.

Compared to the other two competing products, also owned by Autodesk, 3ds max and Maya (which they acquired before they bought Softimage), Softimage had the freshest code and the newest “smell”. But beyond just being newer it has also been considered better in many areas where the other two products have been lacking in. I could write a lot about Softimage but what’s the point, especially now. I never wrote or spoke much about Softimage even though I thought XSI was amazing and had a lot of really great development and great people going for it. Heck, I even wrote a little transition guide for 3ds max users back in 2002.

To all you Softimage users out there, please know this… before Autodesk bought Softimage everyone at Autodesk was aware of it, looked at it, played with it, dissected it, studied it. In fact, I was personally responsible for writing a competitive analysis document for use in development and marketing areas. At the time, remember, it was a competitor. However, it was a very much respected competitor. This respect faded very rapidly very shortly after Autodesk bought it, though. Instead, as you all know, it got treated as the family member nobody wants to talk about. That alone was more than enough reason for me to know what might be happening and well, has happened.

Autodesk has recently admitted that they did not acquire Softimage for its product but its talent and its intellectual property. What a joke. And what a bold faced lie. Yes, I am officially calling Autodesk and whoever came up with those statements a bold face liar. Or just plain ignorant because they haven’t been around long enough? Everyone at Autodesk always knew what happens after an acquisition. Part of the staff will leave prior or during the initial period, especially those who have an “elsewhere” to go to or find gainful employment. The ones that stick around eventually get laid off in a “reorg” that happens either after the initial 6-12 months or a little later. And what you are left with is not the people you claim you acquired the company for. Everyone KNOWS that and anyone, especially within Autodesk who claims otherwise must be pretty darn ignorant and “encouraged” to use the official statements that have been decided on. After all, someone has to be the messenger, right?

You know what happens to such “messengers” that the company uses to speak through? Once they lose their credibility they are laterally promoted and eventually laid off during some “reorg”.

And then what happened?

Well, in one word, the part of the community (the graphics/3D/TV/film/etc. community) affected by this, the users of Softimage, the customers of Autodesk, generated more mail on the Softimage mailing list (yes, us old farts use mailing lists, still!) in a single day than it would otherwise see in several months. And that continued day after day and continues as I write this. Oh, yeah, for reference, I must be the “biggest lurker” on that list since I’ve been subscribed to it forever. Or what feels like forever. Can’t remember when but somewhere in the early 90’s. 🙂

No surprise there, of course. People just saw the one big software product they use to make a living decimated right in front of their eyes. I sympathize and empathize with you all. It was also the very first time I saw professionals use amounts of profanity on the list, in volume. Again, no surprise there given the enormous impact this is going to have on a lot of people.

Autodesk has a few of its employees on the list doing communication and I must say they are doing a decent job based on the position they have been forced in. But let’s not forget what happens to the messengers. Not only will everyone shoot the messenger because that’s just the way these things go. The employer will get rid of its messengers once they are no longer useful because they have lost credibility for being in the position of communicating the company’s position and views. They must be feeling quite uneasy at this point.

I guess I feel sorry for them also. But not as sorry as I feel for the users. The only reason I feel sorry for the Autodesk employees that are forced into this position is because these are probably the people who are happy at Autodesk (in which case I think there must be something wrong with you) or the people who just couldn’t jump ship and go elsewhere or do something else that is worthwhile and fulfilling for them. Sorry if that sounds harsh but that’s the way I see it. Of course, I am biased because over the years I still had many personal friends within Autodesk who regularly complained about many things and expressed a desire to be able to leave. It’s just the way things are there.

Of course, Autodesk had talked to all their “big” Softimage customers prior to making a public announcement about “killing Softimage” (I’m paraphrasing here to avoid corporate speak). Not a big deal if someone fell through the cracks. Not a big deal that the news of course hit the public prior to Autodesk being prepared to handle the enormous fallout and backlash (one they fully deserve).

Autodesk’s solution is very Autodesk-ish

Softimage is proving itself to be “Autodesk’s hurricane Katrina”.

So Autodesk is offering Softimage users a migration path to either 3ds max or Maya. Neither being even remotely acceptable to Softimage users. And that you can use your current or latest Softimage license in perpetuity after 2016 even if you are not “on subscription” (that means you paying Autodesk a sum of money every year so they can build instant messaging apps and really innovative things like that as they’ve recently unveiled). The latter only came about after violent outbursts from the Softimage users, and rightly so.

Autodesk then held a “webinar” to address concerns and discuss this “transition” plan they’ve put forward for current users. I’m not sure what to say but “three stooges” came to mind repeatedly. I think that from a PR stand point it was a good idea. But that’s it, Autodesk sometimes has good ideas but then utterly fails in its execution. In this case nothing was really addressed in a way that I think would’ve been appropriate. Instead, lots of marketing speak and policy talk from people who really were there to communicate for the company. Maurice had a decent posture but the other two came across as if someone held a shotgun to their heads. Constantly taking their eyes away from the camera and looking at the floor, anxiously trying to answer questions to the best of their ability and how they had prepared for them. Truly sad. But hey, at least they tried.

I will not make jokes about the webinar stream cutting out early on and that they had to record and upload the remainder. Even at Autodesk real technical difficulties can happen and while I enjoy those who make fun of it, let’s be real… it happens and I don’t think there was a conspiracy of invisible hands yanking cables anywhere.

The Softimage user response

Lots of Softimage users are looking elsewhere and vowing to not send a single penny on Autodesk. I applaud you. I hope you will be able to do that. Even if you have to pay more elsewhere you might consider the sudden lack of frustration is worth that.

I feel sorry for several people, including a few friends, who ended up getting f-ed up the a.. with a 10 foot pole by Autodesk when they moved away from 3ds max to Maya only to find themselves customers of Autodesk again when they bought Maya. I feel even more sorry for two in particular who moved from Maya to Softimage. Only to end up being customers of Autodesk yet AGAIN (f-ed up the a.. with a 10 foot pole with razor wire this time?) and then only a few years later to be told their latest tool will be EOL’ed.

I don’t know what these two friends of mine did to deserve that much bad karma and be put through all this but it’s near unimaginable considering the many years they spent going from being competent in one product to becoming competent in another, and then another and then having that stomped out the way Autodesk does it best.

I hope that if they now decide to go the route of Modo or Houdini that they don’t end up in the same place again. Of course, at this point I think the community would publicly lynch any company that allows itself to be acquired by Autodesk. I’m not going to play favorites here because I have none but if one has to make decisions I’d probably be looking at both of them and would personally lean towards Modo because Brad is a stand-up guy and always has been (even during the early days when we were all in fierce competition). Except you also can’t make decisions on products based on individuals either. It’s going to be tricky for Softimage users to find their way. And it seems many 3ds max users will soon be joining you on that journey.

Lots of users are still in shock and trying to make sense of this. Some will take the route that Autodesk has offered them (good luck to you but I would be very careful). Others will sever ties with Autodesk as a vendor completely. Some work at larger studios where they have no control over who’s a vendor and who’s not, though.

And in part because of some of those in the latter position is why I’m writing this. I’ve heard their frustrations privately and they are in no position to speak up because many places have policies that employees are not encouraged to speak in a negative way about vendors. Some have such policies written and in some cases it’s mostly unwritten but “common sense” not to. Those users have no voice. Autodesk probably think there’s already too much noise and the volume is way too high because of those users that do. But for those that do there are quite a lot more that don’t have the ability to voice their concerns.

Adding insult to repeated injury after more insults

While all this explosive Softimage stuff is going on Autodesk also unveiled the new line of 2015 products, including Maya 2015 and 3ds max 2015. Instead of that going over like a lead balloon it went over not unlike the EOL of Softimage. So now what?!?!

Well, 3ds max users are extremely unhappy with the 2015 update, especially considering that they’ve been paying for continued use on these “subscription” plans. And what they got was not much to write home about. I don’t know why they expected more than what they got, though, because 3ds max development has been completely stagnant for many years and its users are mainly being strung along for as long as Autodesk can get away with. Nothing new there but after the latest outrages on the 3ds max side of this community you’d think people would’ve figured out already that resource allocation just doesn’t happen to be in the area of their interests or needs.

So not only do we have heated frustration, anger, and harm being done in the Softimage area of the community, now we have another such explosive response going on in another. I’ve been around for long enough in this business to recognize when things are bad and when things are beyond bad. We’re at beyond bad guys. Really we are. And Autodesk, which I am sure will be reading this also at some point, knows this. But knowing it and knowing what to do about it are two different things. At this point I don’t think there is anything they can do about it. Their usual approach will not work. Of course, the usual approach is to tell users things will be better with the next upgrade. That things are actively changing behind the scenes. And all you get is their word. Of course, once again what you’re getting are the words of people who are in no position to make the promises they make. After all, Autodesk told all its Softimage a year before they decide to “kill it” that the future of Softimage was bright. Well, perhaps they were correct… you know, that bright light… go into the light… that light!

I’m sorry to sound skeptical. I’m not. I’m a realist and one who seems to have been right about too many things and more than I would have liked to be right about over the many years. But Eddie and Tom will not be able to do what you, the 3ds max users, are expecting and wishing for. Nobody at Softimage was able to do what their users wished for (increased exposure, more marketing, trying to actually sell Softimage instead of denying it a place in the “family”). Let’s get real serious and real here for a moment.

Autodesk has been a complacent and incompetent company when it comes to Media and Entertainment (something I am sure they will disagree with but of course within their own capabilities they might consider themselves hard working and accomplishing something… which if you can’t do any better even the smallest of achievements is something to be applauded) and they have strung along users SO FAR that it is not merely difficult but more than likely impossible to “turn the ship around”. Well, maybe not impossible but nobody is going to wait it out for many years to come… you know, the kind of time it would take for a big ship to turn around. And as the ship turns, rest assured some captain may decide on a different course of action halfway through. That’s what you have now and that’s what you will have next year and the year thereafter. If that’s good enough for you, great. But from the sounds I’m hearing that’s clearly not good enough for a lot of users.

I’ve already heard both Softimage and 3ds max users voice their concern that 3ds max is the next on the chopping block to be EOL’ed. Offered the choice to “go Maya or go…”. I’ve also heard people say things like “they’d never do that to 3ds max because it has more/the most users”. Uhm, yes, 3ds max has a much larger user base, that’s correct. But as many 3ds max users have already figured out by now, most of the effort on 3ds max is in the realm of arch-viz, etc. and not on what a lot of y’all need it to be. They’d never EOL 3ds max because all these arch-viz civil-engineering CAD-types are using it right?

WRONG.

Most of those are using 3ds max Design!

Autodesk had been trying for YEARS to get 3ds max users to move to 3ds viz (remember that, what it was called before it was called 3ds max Design) and repeated attempts failed until a while ago. Now that this has been set in motion and has worked out “well enough” (I guess, based on what I’ve seen) while users kept saying it made no sense to have the two MAX products so similar even though each would go their own way. You really think that at some point, sooner than you’d like, Autodesk would not decide that that effort is not in their best financial interest and offer you a choice; “upgrade” to Maya or “downgrade” to 3ds max Design?

And this is where Autodesk’s latest kerfuffle that they call “communication” has really shown what you, the customer, CAN expect. You CAN expect that you will be told that everything is fine and the future is bright. You CAN expect that a year after being told that “things change” and “different decisions” needed to be made. That’s what you want to build your future on? That’s what you want to have your business or livelihood depend on? Well, if you do then you’re a bigger risk taker than me and I’ve been known to take big risks.

Autodesk, the metastasizing cancer of the 3D world

There, I said (well, wrote) it again. And here’s the part that actually made me write this post. If you’ve been around this industry for as long as I have you recognize patterns and develop a strange form of intuition about things. And what I’ve been seeing the past week or so is awful.

The problem here is that Autodesk does not understand community. They may claim they do but they really don’t. Then again, Autodesk claims a lot of things that they are mostly ignorant about and as has been proven will claim things and then change their minds about it because “things change”. I felt personally offended by Autodesk’s statements about how “things change” and they have to “adapt” because things are “changing” in the industry. Well, yes, things have been changing but none of what they’re doing has any direct relevance to that. In fact, Autodesk may very well be the leastrelevant aspect of what’s been going on for the past years. The fact that Autodesk claims they know best, they know better for you, and understand things that you clearly do not, is plain insulting. That attitude is a disease and they’re spreading it.

Autodesk hasn’t understood community for a very long time (at least the past decade and then some). I could cite dozens of examples on why that is but I think everyone has already noticed that themselves, if not now, certainly longer ago. And if you do not understand the community in which you derive part of your business revenue then you will NEVER be able to properly service such a community. Nor will you be able to profit from it. Profit is good. I would never deny anyone their profit and I don’t think Autodesk is evil because they want to maximize theirs. That’s normal. Even the way they sometimes try to maximize it is… meh, whatever. The problem is that they don’t understand the business they are in. They don’t understand their customers either. They don’t understand a damn thing, really. And based on that they make decisions to maximize profit and resources. And THAT is the cancer that has metastasized throughout the 3D “scene” and one that I think is now officially too late to turn around, rescue, repair, or otherwise improve for the better.

Everyone worth their weight in salt avoids Autodesk like the plague for many reasons so what they end up with are the people who are generally not the best you need in the positions you need them at. This has been an ongoing problem and one that has been perfectly visible to its customers. This has spread and has become the new standard. The new normal. The way things are done because “that’s the way we do things here because we’ve always done things that way”.

Corporate cultures and in particular internal politics have a life-span. A shelf-life. A sell-by date. Eventually they completely fail itself and that which they try and accomplish. And when they do there is no repair. There is no overhaul. There is no replacement. There is only “an end to it”. I think we are currently at the early stage of that end and at a place in time where no matter how good your intentions are, there is no saving it. I commend anyone for their courage for trying and I truly believe that even running into a burning building while its collapsing shows courage but there is a fine line between courage and insanity. Especially if the textbook definition of insanity is trying to do the same thing over and over again expecting a different outcome.

I’m very rarely wrong about these things and would love for Eddie to prove me wrong. I’ll come over and buy you all the beverages of choices you can handle. Not because it matters to me what happens with 3ds max or any other product but because I’d like to be proven wrong… for once. Unfortunately, me offering unlimited beverages will not change the bigger scale of things and how things really work.

The damage that Autodesk has caused, continues to cause, and will most certainly continue for as long as its customers allow for is really beyond words. Countless Softimage proficient artists who will suddenly find themselves less employable and have a limited amount of time to start getting real competent and proficient using “other” tools, forced to make a decision that will impact their careers after they had already made a decision that impacted their careers in a positive way before. Countless small businesses/boutiques and “one man shops” that rely on Softimage to put food on the table suddenly having to deal with the reality of how Autodesk decides to deal with their customers. Many smaller businesses who are looking at massive costs of overhauling their pipelines, retraining people, finding qualified artists, etc. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg here because these are just the big waves and like all big waves, they have crests.

3ds max users demanding Eddie’s head for a below mediocre update (and from what I’ve seen today I’d certainly call it the least of all upgrades for 3ds max ever) when Eddie can’t be responsible for it since he came on board and shared his good intentions long after most of the technical and planning aspects of this update had already been set in stone. However, will you now make your decisions based on just one or two individuals with good intentions, knowing what “things can change” and knowing that if it wasn’t for the recent “outbusts” in the 3ds max community there probably wouldn’t even be anyone listening to users AT ALL and that this is the kind of upgrade quality you should expect for as long as Autodesk pleases?

At no point in time has the 3D community as a whole been in such turmoil with so many people upset, angry, and pissed off beyond words. Sure, the last years of SGI were pretty bad and those of us who had tons of money riding on that and depending on it sure had things to say and they weren’t pretty. But that was nothing compared to what’s going on today.

At no point were users of 3D products (be it hardware or software) THIS dissatisfied. And in the midst of all this we’re already seeing the part that I consider the absolute worst Autodesk has caused in being this “cancer” I speak of; they have created enough ill feelings and frustration and anxiety for its customers in this community that they are arguing amongst themselves in ways that also has never been seen before. Granted, some areas are less like that than others but what I’m seeing is the absolute worst outcome of an unintended “divide and conquer” that is playing out. Just be aware that it is YOUALL who are being divided.

As far as Autodesk is concerned, this is nothing new, just larger and more simultaneous than in past times. It will blow over again. Things will settle down and it will be business as usual again. You know now what business as usual means, right?

Do I have a solution for all this? No. I’m not in the business of providing one. But I am in the business of understanding history, having learned from history, and looking forward. And what I can see looking forward is that everyone would probably be better off if they can rid themselves of this disease called Autodesk sooner rather than later. Because later is never better.

I’ve never thought or expressed that Autodesk should crawl into a corner and “cease its existence” but that has changed now. I do rather wish they would. It would open up opportunities for competition that would have a difficult time right now and create a desperate need in the industry that will be picked up on by people who would try to do things differently from how Autodesk does them. Unfortunately I do see quite some awkward challenges in that considering the number of patents and what-not Autodesk will continue to hold a death-grip on after all these “acquisitions”.

Oh, for anyone who thinks I’m treating Autodesk unfairly and too harshly here. Please go back to your regular stationary orbit and holding pattern. The future looks bright! Very bright. The next upgrade will be better. The next product will knock your socks off. Oh, well, the next one after that for sure will. Or the one after that when they bring on someone who could tell you all that in a more convincing way. Be ware though… staying in orbit makes you part of the problem that allows companies like Autodesk to do the things they do in the way they do them. And for that you don’t even get the treatment you’d deserve. Or… perhaps you will. And if you really disagree with me on all this… well, what can I say… in that case I probably just published this so I can point at it and tell you “told you so” soon, right?

Comments

This was a good read, as a hobbyist I’ve been using XSI since 4.2EXP now up to 7.5 Mod Tool with some student licenses and trials for all the versions in between. I’ve tried many softwares and I couldn’t possibly see myself using anything but Softimage|XSI. I hope something, anything could be done to keep Softimage alive, I personally as a hobbyist have no reason to use anything else since I’m just a mere game modder but it sucks for people who want so badly to keep using Softimage but wont be able to due to their studio switching.

Thank you so much for writing this article. All tough my livelihood no longer depends on any 3D software it hurts like HELL what Autodesk has done, it was so obvious they only bought it to slaughtered their greatest competition. I’ve always had an aversion to Autodesk, but now, I HATE them with a passion. Softimage has been a soul mate almost from the beginning, it’s like your one and true love suddenly being ripped away from you, there’s nothing that really can replace him/her.

100% of this reading applies to my self . i spend a lot of time testing 3d apps. from features, support, customer service, and stability. #1 choice was MODO. but i´m slowly quiting it as it haves some bugs that haven’t being treated in 6 years or so. along with a cluttered work-flow ( for big sets or productions)(catchy interface keept me trying).
i could write a post longer than this one by just reviewing all the 3d apps i tested )but instead i will say which ones i decided to stick with) they got in some percentage the features i posted before , but mainly they pulled me towards them in a natural way.because they workflow adn because i had this feeling of long term support and development
#1 is cinema 4d. #2 is blender , runner-up is lightwave.
lightwave is amazing but tutorial and plugin support is very limited(at least in comparison of the other two).
the other two. integrates into pipelines pretty well ,they are stable and the web is crowded with plugins, tutorial, extensions ,etc, etc. my self too decided to stay away(far away) to any autodesk related products. i spend 6 years trying to leave autodesk. till i finally got the courage to do so. i feel so relieved. just by steeping away from a dense and dark energy like autodesk.

Contract and NDA… ahhh, good point! So, official statement I will be held accountable to: That will never happen, I will not allow that to happen! Of course, I don’t really have to worry about that too much because I’m pretty sure Autodesk has nothing they could offer me that would even remotely have me reconsider such an awfully horrific idea of “hanging with the borg” again. 🙂

I couldn’t agree with this view more. I only hope that Pixologic and Zbrush hold the line and never allow AD to purchase them.

I used Softimage since ver 3.0 and have become very proficient with the tool. Sadley I will now never use an AD product again. I’m in the process of learning MODO on my own and I don’t care if it isn’t as robust or polished as Maya 3Ds or Softimage. We need to buy products like MODO and start to support the little guys again, get back to our roots so to speak I guess.

Screw you AD you treatment of the customer base that keeps your staff employed is sickening.

I learned 3D on Explore TDI in the early 90’s and switched the next year to softimage… I’ve never been able to adapt to the messy GUI and the stupid interaction model of Maya. That 20 years long. It wont change now. As a stubbon guy I swear I’ll never work with Maya as a toolset.
Autodesk tried to suffocate Softimage under the blanket of no commercial exposition, but the mailinglist was still breathing and growing under pillow. Autodesk finally took a knife and gave what they thought was the “coup de grâce”.
They only forgot that Softimage was lying in some marital couch. They hurt themselves for sure.
And now Softimage is a mature and strong product that has still some years ahead, ready for some (fabric)engines to get pluged in allowing us to expect some years of (fake) autonomy at least untill the next generation 128bit computers.
Good thing, no more need to pay for lame releases. Keeping XSi.exe 2013SP1 to avoid the ugly new thumbnails, I’ll be a necrographist for the next years, hoping life will grow on that loved dead corpse…

I was around for that. Though I had pretty much stopped using Amiga’s at that time (still had a few sitting around and I still have my original A1000 to this day for nostalgic and historical reasons). The way the whole murder of the Amiga and the company and its people went down was absolutely horrific. If you had ever heard the stories of the guy who eventually ran the place into the ground and the speed bumps in the parking lot you know exactly what I’m talking about. If not… long looooong story short, the Amiga staff had burnings in which they burned the guy in effigy during one of the get togethers at the last days of work.

Yeah, I knew the death of the Amiga was a real tragedy. Didn’t know the details.

If people want to keep Softimage alive they’ll have to form a company and build software better than softimage based on it’s workflow functionality and elegance.

Another possibility is to create an open-source version that adheres to Softimage design style.

Like the skilled Amiga designers, it’d be real shame to see Softimage go down.

If I was Autodesk I’d a seen Softimage as the best product and deep-sixed both 3dsMAX and MAYA…gutting them for technology, and offering free transition and training in Softimage..basically making it my flagship over a 5 year transition.
Then incorporate 3D paint and sculpt into Softimage. Incorporate the 3 teams to take Softimage to the next level.

David Haynie, one of the original Amiga guys has a trailer for the Amiga Deathbed Vigil on his YouTube that highlights some of the sentiment that went on at the end… middle fingers and all. I think there’s a mention in there about the speed bumps and how the guy that ran the place at the end was a total dictator. Check it out: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hHI7_pU0y70

blender have all you need from 3d app on same level that payed options have (no ICE :P).
I switched recently and was ready in one month. (and I am really glad now looking back at softimage).

you can actually change almost every thing to behave almost like softimage.
It’s hard at the beginning until you find all the analogues tools cos they have different names sometimes, and you will need some time to figure out the UI and how to make your own shortcuts and custom pop up menus. But in terms of Power you have all tools that can be expected from a modern 3d app. Even they are 10 times better then 3d max.

all free software and i started using them for less then a year … make that 6 – 8 months.
I am not a TD so I can’t tell you how good is for development your own tools, but if you are good in programming its open and free so you can change virtually everything.

P.S. it have texture paint on UV like mudbox with stencil project paint, and dynamic tessellation on sculpt like sculptris and 3d coat. and the sculpt brush system is really good not crazy like zbrush but i think you can do all the tings you can do in zbrush just with less polycounts at given time, bcos zbrush can drive like 20 mil poly xD ( more parts and meshlab to the rescue on that front).

And perhaps for future entries: one of the things that made fast with xsi was that i like you had a custom keymap (thats imprinted on my brain by now) that had all most used functions like weld points, add loop, extrude etc. on it. One of the things that always hampers my adaption of other 3d apps is that those functions are often named differently or work slightly different because if the app’s “thinking” (like the odd editable mesh/poly thing in max) so if you could perhaps get people like me used to the thinking and naming conventions of blender i think that would be really helpfull.

Also I use Maya interaction in xsi and blender also, and some of the naming or default shortcuts may not be spot on. I am making research while writing the tutorials for the defaults, but like all the people I am not perfect.

Anyway I am happy to help and will answer on the questions posted in the page. Also I will write tutorials on request so if you don’t want to wait for me for particular info, just drop a comment on some of the tutorial pages.

Be sure to share the tutorials to other artists that want to switch to blender.

Great read. I’m on 3dsMax because I do product viz. I originally learned Maya, back when it was with Alias. I’ve never liked Max, but I have to use it because that’s what other people use. Well, I’m working on changing that. I too feel pushed around too much. Now, I feel I could be persuaded though. If they were to thrown in Maya With Max and Mudbox at no extra charge? :/ I might give in. But really, that’s not going to happen. They’re moving to an Adobe-like rental system that bends over it’s customers.
I’m heading toward Blender for now. It’ll be a bumpy road, and I have to keep Max current while I begin making the switch, but I’ve committed myself to start. And if I get to hire a new animator, I’m putting non-autodesk software as a requirement, preferably blender. So far, it seems just as capable, and surpasses it in many ways.

I am surprised you don’t mention Adobe in your article.I mean, they are pretty much doing the same thing. One that I remember was freehand that they bought and killed, and I know there were others. And most of their software is in the same boat. They make you pay lots for upgrades, but really there hasn’t been anything significant for almost 8 years. Wow, 8 years? That just seems stupid.I have to upgrade things like AfterEffects because as new video standards come out, I have to get the new software to support it. But things like photoshop gained nearly nothing.

I’m at a much smaller place now, so I think I’ll be able to separate myself from Autodesk within a couple years. We aren’t buying Adobe CC, but we’re stuck with at Least illustrator and photoshop just because everyone else uses it. Same goes for MS Office. No reason I can’t use something else, other than the fact that everyone else uses MS Office and I have to open their files without them changing.

YOu are so right about SoftImage, which was a king of all at a time! I tought the same about Adobe wich killed the great softwares they bought: Flash, Director, Freehand… because…it would cost too much to keep these softwares alive, they tought… Now, the same is happening with Autodesk, for the same simple reason: shareholders and profitability has now the control of the company agenda, instead of the founders, creators and original managers. You should see the same happeneing soon With Apple, Google, Facebook, wich are all resisting, somehow, for now…. But there is worse. Soon the whole internet will be controled by the same profit-oriented vision, with pay-to-use-everythings and uncrackable cloud based softwares, advertisements absolutly everywhere, you personal infos out of your control. There is not limit to how crazy the ideas these money guys can ome up with at this point: taxes on your web usage, like for you car or your house, why not ?), micro payements for each clicks you do ? impossible to crack cloud-based software preventing all the talented-but-no-money teenagers like us to become what we are now…The whole society is treaten by the total, final and absolute wordlwide takeover the capitalist system is puting in place. The freeweb and opensource comunity will then become our last hope..until they get sued, bought, or sabottaged…

Well, the only thing that Autodesk can not truly buy and kill is open source software. Blender being the biggest possible competitor.

It competes with them on price tag and license. The license guarantees that nobody owns blender and that nobody can kill it- no corporate choice can affect it’s availability.

It is owned by those who use it.

But that is also it’s weakness. Blender is making money to pay its developers out of learning videos and blender foundation projects. The latest being Gouseberry. Gouseberry is their most ambiguous project to date! Getting that funded will allow them to hire more than 10 full time developers for an entire year.

If you guys truly want to support something that is opposite to Autodesk, now is your chance. Support the gouseberry project to make blender a better and more competitive tool. Get involved with b3d development and implement the features you are missing from softimage in something that autodesk will never be able to buy and kill.

Incredibly honest article. Though I have nothing to do with Autodesk, I can sympathize with some of my own experiences in life. Freedom of speech is great, contracts and NDA policies (while understandable to some extent) deny many, this fundamental right.

I’d like to add my voice of disgust to the throng. I’m a 3ds Max user that’s been waiting, (since the 2009 version) for Autodesk to start improving the areas of the program that so desperately need it. Most importantly for me, rigging and skinning and character animation tools. After four versions with no improvement to these areas, I’m ready to jump ship. I can’t keep pumping money into my subscription if that money is just going to buy nifty new tools for Maya. And Autodesk won’t give Max users a free transition option to migrate over to Maya (which I might seriously consider). Then again, I don’t trust Autodesk. And this article really lays it all out as to WHY we shouldn’t trust Autodesk. Even if I could afford to switch to Maya, how do I know it isn’t the next application on the chopping block? I’m going to take a look at Blender. It may be the underdog, but right now, it’s looking like a green pasture after the desolate wasteland of Autodesk.

I too am a 3DS Max user that is disgusted with Autodesk. I am actively looking for an exit from Autodesk software and I’ll never buy another product from their line. I recently chose ZBrush over Mudbox and as soon as I can settle on a new 3D platform, I’ll be leaving Autodesk for good. 3DS Max has become a stagnant, bloated, plugin-laden mess and I’m tired of waiting year after year for their promises of improvements to be fulfilled. I’m sick of being strung along, and they have finally burned their bridge with me. At least I have the occasional opportunity of recommending software vendors to my clients and can take some pleasure in steering them clear of Autodesk.

not bad of an article, I hope you accept my point of view, it’s the fault of Alias and Avid to accept Autodesk offers and let other companies know now that if they sold their technologies to Autodesk it might get killed like what happened to softimage.

as for other competitors currently I see 4 tools Houdini, Modo, Blender and last one is LightWave.

for Sculpting ZBrush

as for maturity most of those mentioned tools are nor as matured as Softimage or Maya, with the exception of Houdini and Zbrush.

however if you are a real artist you can use any tool to reach the goal and if your choice is to abandon autodesk it’s not a bad choice given 3Ds Max is an overpriced and over hyped pile of code, that is sluggish and slow, and Maya being a pile of nodes system which causes modeling problems sometimes, keep it simple you decide what your pipeline is and with your ability to code you can use the API to reach your goal.

Yes everyone who has stayed in Autodesk long enough (including myself) knows this. The company makes a bunch of acquisitions each year and some of them are done only to kill competitions or potential competitions. Even if some acquired new technologies are intended to be made into new products, the process-oriented higher management gang will stall further technology advancements by mandating “integration” engineering efforts for Autodesk branding, not for the sake of the technological domain itself nor the customers in that domain. As a competitor, if you have belief in your own product and passion for the technology you are devoting to, do not sell to Autodesk.

Don’t feel too bad, Stefan. I have to get simple aluminum panels made for my music products, the mechanical drawings are so basic that making a plain 2D LibreOffice drawing is more than adequate. Then I take this drawing to a machine shop, and inevitably the first word out of the owner’s mouth is “gee, couldn’t you bring me a .dxf file instead?” Industry is full of people who, like all those blindly loyal corporate Windows users, simply cannot imagine doing business without AutoCAD. They all admit that Autodesk is one of the worst companies in the software business, yet they keep supporting AutoCAD — to the utter exclusion of everything else.

There’s still actually some choice in the 3D modeling field, which is unusual. In most other computer-using businesses it’s cut and dried. You “can’t” run an enterprise-level IT department without Microsoft Windows, you “can’t” run a legal office without Microsoft Office and Thomson WestLaw, you “can’t” run a TV production facility without Avid editing and effects products, you “can’t” run a recording studio without Avid Pro Tools, and you don’t dare make mechanical drawings without AutoCAD. Once a monopoly is established in the computer business, like IBM it lives for decades. A giant, stupid, thrashing monster.

The simple fact is Autodesk is a near monopoly. All the things you mention flow from this.

Their logical course of action is:
1. Do the bare minimum necessary to keep pitchfork-wielding mobs out of their offices.
2. Raise prices.
3. Keep an eye out for any potentially disruptive competitors and buy them up / shut them down before they grow big enough to challenge Autodesk’s monopoly.

The resulting behaviour doesn’t look pretty from a human perspective, but that’s the cold logic of it.

Just wanted to say thank you for that post. I stumbled across this while trying unsuccessully to find info on how to contact Autodesk about software purchased but not available… And so far no way to contact them to ask for assistance, their website seems literally designed to waste your time and frustrate

My own situation is nothing in comparison to what your describing here for the users of Softimage and Max / Maya… I only purchased Sketchbook Pro for my android tablet 🙂 I am pissed at being out 29 bucks I cannot even imagine if I had ever owned Max or XS, Maya!

Out of curiosity what is you opinion on Form Z8?

I do set design for Film / Themed Entertainment and can do anything I need done fast and easy using Sketchup Pro but I am considering expanding my 3D for Arch Vis…

Anyway very interesting read I look forward to hearing more from you…
D

1.
the power, as of a god, TO PRODUCE ILLUSIONS.
2.
the production of an ILLUSION.
3.
(in Vedantic philosophy) the ILLUSIONS of the reality of sensory experience and of the experienced qualities and attributes of oneself.
4.
(initial capital letter). Also called Mahamaya. a goddess personifying the power that creates phenomena.

GET THE DEFINITION ON THE INTERNET …. AND DO YOUR SIMPLE STUDIES AND UNDERSTANDING OF THE WORDS YOU FEEL BEST EXPLAINS WHAT AUTODESK PROGRESS IN BEHAVIOR AND KEY OBVIOUS PATTERN OF ACTIONS.

TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN:
SERIOUS DEVELOPERS AND CODERS, BUSINESS MEN AND WOMEN, ARTIST AND TECHNICAL DIRECTORS AND SO ON ….

LETS BRING OUR HERO BACK HOME

IM GOING TO KEEP LOOKING UP WAYS TO DO SO … ANY IDEAS .. I ADVISE TO CREATE A PRIVET POSTING AREA FOR SERIOUS ACTION TAKERS .. AND CONFIDENTIALLY EXCHANGE IDEAS FOR THIS TASK .. EVIL IS LARKING. and snooping around 😉

Just wanted to thank you for this article. I’ve worked with Autodesk since 2000, supporting AutoCAD license servers (a full-time job? HAH! yes). so I have early experience with their support and business structures. 4 years later I changed careers from IT to 3D animation and chose Maya as my product of choice.

Long story short, I watched as Autodesk gobbled up the competition and as soon as Maya was on the block, I started making an exit strategy with Houdini as my new tool.

Houdini (SideFX Software) has f#@king amazing support. Quick response times that provide solutions that I can plug right into my existing setups. Awesome! The only issue is that (as a previous user posted) Houdini is not a bread and butter solution, particularly for independent artists.

After 14 years of using Maya (and building entire production pipelines using it) I spent about 5 years using Houdini. Most of the work was farmed out studio work. When I tried using Houdini for smaller projects… it kinda hurt. What was I going to use for modeling, texturing, rigging and animation? Blender? Is it there yet?

I have been following Blender since Elephants Dream, their first open source movie. I’ve contributed to the organization through the purchase of DVDs and t-shirts, but didn’t have time to invest in learning another software… till 6 months ago.

I am in the process of doing a write-up of my experience, but I will simply say this…

If you have an open mind and are looking for a core toolset for 3D animation creation, Blender will not disappoint. As I heard one artist state, “Blender has had more feature additions in the past 6 months, than Maya has had in the past 6 years”. Sooo true. I am blown away by what I’m discovering. Character rigging and animation is different… but logical and efficient. As a character TD, skinning was a process that I had refined in Maya and moving softwares scared the sh@t out of me. However, the base auto-skinning results have been good enough for most of my projects and only last month they released a great flood/smooth algorithm that blows away the tools I was using for Maya. I could go on and on… but I’ll state again, I’m VERY happy… and I haven’t even spoken about the simplicity of learning/creating shaders or the Cycles render engine, plus compositor, 3D camera solver, video editor.

And it’s stable.

I’m starting to believe that the rest of the world has already caught on, and that North America still has it’s blinders on. I feel that Autodesk may even be aware of this, as their focus is on online tools.

For advanced particle effects and other procedurally generated effects, I still return to Houdini. I own full licenses, but it’s worth mentioning that Houdini Indie is $200 a year (for companies making less than $100k/year).

Thanks for this article and sorry for the rushed response… but had to add my 2cents to the convo before heading back to the office (library, coffee shop and/or home standing desk).

you should know just what auto-desk did to a 11 year old girl my daughter with our 2014 mud box , they just took it from us , and did not give a rats ass to help us at! all! , i am just a dad trying to help his very talented daughter at 11 years old she can modal , rig
, and draw , she knows her way around blender ,zbrush , PS6 , and now has Modo as her mane 3d app ,

i was going to buy here Maya , but not after what they did to us, she had put over 2 1/2 years learning a good size chunk of Maya on top of it all, , now mater what we did to get mudbox reinstalled on her new PC they did not care at all, i had forgot what i did win i set it up the first time with some of my registration and because of this we had no path to fix that ( i had the receipt, box, key , and all other things needed but had forgot some detail i could not remember and that was that! sorry WE CAN NOT HELP YOU, , and had no path at ALL , you just try to remember what you did 2 years ago , and let me know how that go,s , it was just bull shit excuses as y they would not help us,

so that was 550 dollars form people that are on food stamps, i had saved for over a year to buy that for her , to have that happen to us ,was hard on her , , so “THE FOUNDRY” MODO was there for us , and we went that rout ,